Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1887-06-08
HOW GLOVES ARE MADE.
Where They Come From.

Nobody, SO far as We know has ever
disputed the proposition that one-half
of the world does not know how the
other half lives; and we have little fear
of contradiction when we make bold to
declare that probably one-half of the peo-
pie of the United States do not know
where their gloves come from. OF course
it is generally known that gloves of fine
kid, such as ladies wear, and gloves Of
certain form which fashion prescribes
for men, are brought from abroad, but
whence comes the great supply Of all
the other gloves? The answer would
not be very far wrong if one were to
say from Fulton County, New York.
Foar-fifths of the gloves made in
America, it is estimated, are manufac-
tured in the county named, and the
manIfactories which make gloves else
where are in great part the children of
Fulton County, indebted to her for their
nurture and their establishment in life.
The headquarters of the glove-mak-
ing industry in Fulton County are forty
five miles northwest of Albany in Johns
town Township. The villages of Clio
yerSville and JohnStown in that town.
ship contain population of about 20,-
600, seven-eighths of whom are glove
makers. There are upward Of $50 glove
manufactures in the section. Glove
making in what is now Fulton County
was begun early in the present century.
Upon the passing away of Sir William
johnson, the famous Indian agent of
colonial times, and of his son Sir John,
Jealous Tory who fought fiercely for
King George, the Dutch farmers of the
neighborhood looked about for some
better means of support than were
offered to them by the soil, which was
not fitted for husbandry, although there
was good grazing land upon the stony
hillSides. A shrewd family from Con-
necticut are popularity credited with
introducing into the neighborhood the
manufacture of buckskin gloves. There
was in the convenient North Woods in
those days 4 supply of material for this
manufacture so great that nobody
would have thought it could ever he
exhausted, but the demand of the
American people for gloves proved to
be still greater, and the North Woois'
deer ceased to be depended upon by the
Fulton County glove-makers years ago.
To-day the gloves manufactured in
Gloversville and Johnstown are made Of
skins brought from the most distant
parts of the globe. The great bulk are
buck-skins and sheep-skins, but there
are many others which the glovemakers
use-among them seal skin, dog-skin,
East India cowhide, and the skin of the
South American water-hog. The bulk
of the buckskin comes from Mexico and
Genital and South America. The deer
of the tropics is covered with heavier
skin than covers the deer of these lati-
tudes, and the finest sheep-skin comes
from South Africa, and is that of the
Cape hair sheep. 1.-The coarser the wool
the finer the skin," is glove-maker's
saving. All manner of furs, too, go to
Fulton County, to be used in finishing
the gloves.
The business of glove-making in Full
ton County amounts to about SS,OOO,OO0
yearly, The wages of the most skillful
workers-the table-cutters, as they are
called-run from $50 to $50 month;
block cutters get from $50 to S65
monthly, and machine girls earn,
aCcOrulnp 10 lDtll ohui, IlOui " W $lS
and even Sl4 week.
The skins of which gloves are made
90 through very exhaustive variety of
processes. Some of them are soaked in
vats variously from three days to four
weeks. after which they get a scraping
from the "beam" worker. They are
then dried into parchment, then soaked
in water, then "milled' in oil, then put
upon the beam again and secured Of oil
and natural grease with alkali, being
repeatedly dried in the course Of this
various treatment. After the alkali
securing they are put upon the ''break-
ing'' machine, and are then ''hand-
staked' with blunt tool to render
them pliable. Then they go on to the
''buck-tail," or emery wheel, and from
there into the identical oil and natural
grease of which they were secured with
such pains. Then they are wrung out
and colored, then again "broke-staked"
and finished" then smoked, and then
turned over to the glove-makers, who
promptly ''stake" them again, cut them
either on the block or by hand stable"
cutttng), ''silk" them, sew them, do
much else to them, put buttons on
them, fit them over metal hands heated
by steam, sort them, and put them up
in the pasteboard boxes in which they
are sent to market. The gloves made
in Fulton County are of all sorts, and
range from lady's kid to the cowboys
gauntlet splendid with tassels and gold
cord.